The biggest concern for a lot of Xbox 360 users is the red ring of death. This is a very common problem and it happens when you see three red lights flashing on the front of the console. The fact that the Xbox 360 has a lot of great and positively addictive games just adds to the aggravation factor when your Xbox dies.

This article will give a short description of why the red ring of death comes about and what you can do to head off and even fix this problem. Overheating during use of your Xbox is the number one cause for the red ring of death failure. Because of its poor design, it generates too much heat and it is unable to cool itself because of an undersized cooling system. To make matters worse, the newer and more sophisticated games place a greater work load on the Xbox which adds to the overheating problem. When the Xbox gets hot, the mother board bows and flexes. The soldering on the mother board also gets flexed causing small cracks to form. With enough repetition, some of the solder joints can break. Excessive heat happening over a long period of time can also lead to a degradation of the thermal compound joining the CPU with its heat sink. The thermal compound between the GPU and its heat sink can also degrade over time. The thermal compound is needed to allow heat to properly flow out of the GPU (or CPU) and into its heat sink. Excess heat cannot flow out of the GPU or CPU if the thermal compound has degraded. So the key to avoiding and maybe fixing the red ring of death is to do everything you can to keep it cool. This means keeping the cooling vents clear of obstructions and dust. It means using your Xbox in cool ventilated areas in your home. Do not use or store it near any sources of heat. You will also have to look after the power brick because it too cannot be allowed to overheat. You should also avoid using your Xbox 360 over extended periods of time. Your Xbox needs to be allowed to cool down after every 2 or 3 hours of operation.
There are other circumstances that can cause the red ring of death and some can even give you a false ring of death error. But the most serious and common reason for the red ring of death is overheating. Repeated overheating can seriously damage your Xbox 360
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